DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Drivers wanted to see how their new Sprint Cup cars handled in the draft at Daytona International Speedway.

The answer? Don’t push.

It was a costly lesson for many Friday as a 12-car crash resulted in eight teams having their three-day test end in the middle of the second day because of damage to their cars. At least four other teams decided to go home to avoid wrecking.

“I was just going to give him a push down the back straightaway and see if he could get the lead,” Earnhardt said. “We got off the back straightaway and was pushing along there and our cars didn’t match up very well.

“I got him hooked into the fence.”

Since the repaving of Daytona International Speedway three years ago, drivers have been able to push-draft around the 2.5-mile high-banked oval.

But the new 2013 cars, which feature more distinct body styles that resemble their production counterparts, have curved front bumpers that drivers learned don’t line up as well as in the past.

The rounded front nose of the Chevrolet SS comes to more of a point in the center of the front bumper than the other manufacturers.

“I didn’t have any problem with any other cars but that was the first time where I pushed a Ford,” Earnhardt said about his Chevrolet. “The roll bar at the front of my car is just at the right place where his car sits right up on top of that.

“I sort of had him going down the back straightaway like a forklift. It was a big mess and tore up a lot of cars. Definitely, the drafting is not like it used to be.”

“It’s unfortunate but sometimes you have to wreck ’em to learn,” Keselowski said.

At least four other teams — all three Michael Waltrip Racing cars as well as that of Scott Speed — decided to pack up after the accident.

“It appears to me like we’re not going to be able to do much pushing, which gets us back to the old style of racing, which probably the fans like better,” MWR driver Mark Martin said. “Much less passing and probably more wrecking.

“But the cars are beautiful. They look good. They handle good. They run cool enough — not the kind of (overheating) issues that we had.”

NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said the sanctioning body did not approve the bumper designs with the hopes of discouraging two-car drafts, but that was just a byproduct of the designs submitted by the manufacturers.

“You test for a lot of different reasons so if that’s the case that you can’t push, then don’t push,” Pemberton said.

Gordon said the pushing will have to be done “with the air instead of the bumpers.”

“The cars drive pretty good,” Gordon said. “You can’t push, which is a good thing. The bad thing is you can still get to the guy’s bumper. But the cars just don’t line up very good.

“You just really just shouldn’t even be doing it. But unfortunately that’s the last bit of momentum that you need to make the pass or make your lane move.”